Tag Archives: religious freedom

A Catholic petition is circulating, asking Pope Francis to tell Barack Obama and Congress to defend Marriage, Life, the free exercise of religion and the poor (from the damaging policies based on “man-made climate change theory.”)

This petition also brings up several additional important points that we highlighted in red.

Your Holiness,
We are under attack by powerful organizations and politicians in the United States of America. Organizations and politicians who have distorted in public the true meanings of Marriage, Life and Freedom of Religion.

We humbly ask that when you visit President Obama on September 23, 2015 and address the U.S. Congress on September 24, 2015 that you implore each to:

Uphold and recodify in law, Marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Defend the Life of the unborn child from death and dismemberment, sale of his/her body parts, defend all persons from “legalized” euthanasia and rescue our Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and Yazidi brothers and sisters from the horrors of ISIS.

Uphold and recodify in law, the Free Exercise of Religion for their citizens.

Defend the Poor from damaging policies based on “man-made climate change theory” that for a decade, have raised the costs on products from automobiles to food to washing machines. These policies have put more products and services even further out of reach of the Poor. These same policies also have made it more difficult or impossible for many who have a higher income to be charitable to the Poor.

Your Holiness, our president and our politicians,(many of them dissenting Catholics on Marriage, Life and the Free Exercise of Religion) need to hear you on these moral issues. Catholics in the United States need and want to hear you and many non-Catholic Christians in the U.S. want to hear you on these issues.

We pray you will address these issues and that this message finds you well and in good health.

Friends, below is a petition letter to Pope Francis that we hope you will sign. We believe it is important that the Holy Father hear from his flock in America about our concerns as Catholic lay persons especially in grave matters.

Your Holiness,

President Obama is trying to force Catholic groups in the U.S. such as the ‘Little Sisters of the Poor’ to abandon their Catholic conscience and pay for services inconsistent with life and Catholic Church teaching.

President Obama is doing this through his unjust law popularly known by him as ‘ObamaCare’ and one of its directives known as the ‘HHS mandate.’

When President Obama meets with you on March 27, 2014, I humbly ask in the spirit of Matthew’s Gospel that you admonish him for his persecution of Catholic persons, businesses and others of good will who are suffering under his unjust law.

Also, in solidarity with my Middle Eastern Christian brothers and sisters and others of good will, I ask that you admonish President Obama for his support of their political persecutors.

Please read and share Catholics for America’s post titled ‘Introducing, Catholics for America’HERE and below that introduces their efforts to protect and defend Catholic social teaching in the United States:

Today, November 21st, on the Feast of The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we are pleased to introduce Catholics for America.

What is Catholics for America?

Catholics for America is a not for profit organization whose mission is, “To educate and encourage Catholics in the United States of America to actively support Catholic social teaching and to protect and defend those teachings in the public sphere.”

Why was Catholics for America founded?

Catholic teaching needs protection and defense by lay persons. The Church calls on the laity to be active in politics and society in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, sections 899 and 2442. Also, on January 19, 2012, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI called for the Catholic Laity to become engaged through his address to the Bishops of the U.S.:

*Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) – section 899

899 The initiative of lay Christians is necessary especially when the matter involves discovering or inventing the means for permeating social, political, and economic realities with the demands of Christian doctrine and life. This initiative is a normal element of the life of the Church:

Lay believers are in the front line of Church life; for them the Church is the animating principle of human society. Therefore, they in particular ought to have an ever-clearer consciousness not only of belonging to the Church, but of being the Church, that is to say, the community of the faithful on earth under the leadership of the Pope, the common Head, and of the bishops in communion with him. They are the Church.

*Catechism of the Catholic Church – section 2442

2442 It is not the role of the Pastors of the Church to intervene directly in the political structuring and organization of social life. This task is part of the vocation of the lay faithful, acting on their own initiative with their fellow citizens. Social action can assume various concrete forms. It should always have the common good in view and be in conformity with the message of the Gospel and the teaching of the Church. It is the role of the laity “to animate temporal realities with Christian commitment, by which they show that they are witnesses and agents of peace and justice.”

*Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI TO THE BISHOPS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ON THEIR “AD LIMINA” VISIT, January 19, 2012:

“… it is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. The seriousness of these threats needs to be clearly appreciated at every level of ecclesial life. Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion… Here once more we see the need for an engaged, articulate and well-formed CATHOLIC LAITY endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the FUTURE OF AMERICAN SOCIETY.”

Catholics for America will help the laity to engage in the public sphere on moral issues central to our faith like; Life, Marriage, Poverty, Labor and Religious Freedom to name a few.

How can you help Catholics for America?

Tell your friends about Catholics for America by using the social media sources you use like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube.

Donate $5 or an amount you can afford to the efforts of Catholics for America.

Posted onNovember 1, 2013|Comments Off on Contraception mandate STRUCK DOWN by U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

A huge victory for religious freedom and conscience today! The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in favor of Francis Gilardi’s challenge to the HHS on the Healthcare law’s contraception mandate.

See an excerpt from the ruling below:

†

You can read the entire ruling at this linkHERE. I recommend starting at page 4.

The Healthcare law (PPACA, aka Obamacare) has many victims. One of the law’s mandates, known as the “HHS Mandate” requires the Little Sisters of the Poor to pay for contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs for its employees. A law that forces Catholic sisters to break their vows to Jesus Christ is a bad law. A law that must be repealed. Until the time for repeal arrives politically, the sisters will have to fight by filing suit to save their ability, ” …to live for Him (Jesus) and for Him and the elderly. That’s our life,”says Sister Mary Bernard in the video below. Sister Mary Bernard (pictured above) also weeps as she describes how the Sisters’ see Christ in the elderly and bring Christ to them through themselves when elderly in their care pass away, “…and when they finally find the hand of God… You know they’re there… It’s a happy moment… I’m crying.”

The Democratic Party and President Barack Obama consider the Healthcare law to be their signature achievement. An achievement that separates Jesus Christ from those who are vowed to Him is no achievement.

Watch the emotional video below from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty about the Little Sisters plight. After watching the video, read the Becket Fund’s press release from September 24, 2013 about the Sisters’ class-action lawsuit.

Washington, D.C., — Today, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Little Sisters of the Poor, a religious order of Sisters dedicated to caring for the elderly poor (see video). Without relief, the Little Sisters face millions of dollars in IRS fines because they cannot comply with the government’s mandate that they give their employees free access to contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs. The Little Sisters are joined by their religious health benefits providers, Christian Brothers Services and Christian Brothers Employee Benefits Trust, and a class of other religious organizations facing similar fines, in the first class action lawsuit against the Mandate.

The Little Sisters of the Poor are an international Roman Catholic Congregation of women Religious founded in 1839 by St. Jeanne Jugan. They operate homes in 31 countries, where they provide loving care for over 13,000 needy elderly persons.Thirty of these homes are located in the United States.

“Like all of the Little Sisters, I have vowed to God and the Roman Catholic Church that I will treat all life as valuable, and I have dedicated my life to that work,”explained Sister Loraine Marie, Superior for one of the three U.S. provinces in the Congregation.“We cannot violate our vows by participating in the government’s program to provide access to abortion inducing drugs.”

Although the Little Sisters’ homes perform a religious ministry of caring for the elderly poor, they do not fall within the government’s narrow exemption for “religious employers.” Accordingly, beginning on January 1, the Little Sisters will face IRS fines unless they violate their religion by hiring an insurer to provide their employees with contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs.

“The Sisters should obviously be exempted as ‘religious employers,’ but the government has refused to expand its definition,” said Mark Rienzi, Senior Counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and lead counsel for the Little Sisters. “These women just want to take care of the elderly poor without being forced to violate the faith that animates their work. The money they collect should be used to care for the poor like it always has—and not to pay the IRS.”

The lawsuit is the first of its kind both because it is a class-action suit that will represent hundreds of Catholic non-profit ministries with similar beliefs and because it is the first on behalf of benefits providers who cannot comply with the Mandate.

The lawsuit was filed in federal District Court in Denver. There are now 73 lawsuits challenging the mandate.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a non-profit, public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions—from Anglicans to Zoroastrians. For 18 years its attorneys have been recognized as experts in the field of church-state law. They recently won a 9-0 Supreme Court victory in Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC, which The Wall Street Journal called one of “the most important religious liberty cases in a half century.”

For more information, or to arrange an interview with one of the attorneys, please contact Emily Hardman, Communications Director, at ehardman@becketfund.org or call 202.349.7224.

Please share the Sisters’ story. Forward it to everyone you know. Though the Democratic Party and its politicians knew that their Healthcare law would violate the vows of religious persons like the Little Sisters of the Poor, surely individual Catholics who identify as Democrats did not want such effects on their religious sisters, nor would they want such a bad law. Surely, these Catholics never believed their religious sisters would have to choose between obedience to God and obedience to government run by the Democratic Party.

Posted onSeptember 15, 2012|Comments Off on Producer of “Last Ounce of Courage” Supports Catholics’ Religious Freedom. Let’s Support His Film

“Last Ounce of Courage” opened in movie theatres near you on Friday September 14th, 2012.

Why you should see this movie:

The movie focuses on Family, Faith and Freedom. But, more importantly the actions of the producer have earned him a Catholic audience. Kevin McAfee Spoke at the “Rally for Religious Freedom” in Oklahoma City on June 23rd, 2012. He didn’t just speak, he made a generous financial contribution to the effort and is deeply concerned about the infringement on our Church. Though Kevin is not Catholic he was noticeably moved when a religious sister at the rally told him his movie’s debut date was the same as the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

Kevin McAfee is a great example of a Christian who came to the aid of his Catholic brothers and sisters in their time of need. Let us support his work by going to see his movie “Last Ounce of Courage.”

Barack Obama is no George Washington when it comes to respecting religious freedom. Let’s compare how important Catholic and Protestant clergy have responded to both of these presidents regarding our first, most cherished American liberty.

Responses from clergy regarding Barack Obama

In his January 19, 2012 address to American Catholic Bishops, Pope Benedict XVI recognized threats to religious freedom by Obama without stating his name (the HHS mandate was announced the next day.):“…it is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres… Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion.”

In an interview on February 21, 2012 Rev. Franklin Graham expressed his willingness to practice civil disobedience in the face of Barack Obama’s attack on religious freedom:“I am very concerned, because what they tried to do to the Catholic Church in mandating contraception, I don’t believe the compromise is a true compromise. You’re still paying for it, but it’s going to be paid for now through the insurance carrier, who is then going to charge you… I think every Christian out there should be concerned that we will be forced to bring people into our organizations, and put them on our payrolls, when we know that they are opposed to everything that we believe… at that point, I would just have to break the law and take it all the way to the Supreme Court and fight it…”

In a March 2, 2012 letter to Catholic bishops, Cardinal Dolan of New York stated the following in regard to President Barack Obama’s disturbing opinions on religious freedom:“At a recent meeting between staff of the bishops’ conference and the White House staff, our staff members asked directly whether the broader concerns of religious freedom—that is, revisiting the straight-jacketing mandates(HHS mandate requires all insurance companies to provide free contraception, including the morning-after pill and sterilizations — even to employees of religious-affiliated organizations that have a moral objection) or broadening the maligned exemption—are all off the table. They were informed that they are. So much for “working out the wrinkles.” (Obama invited them to “work out the wrinkles”) Instead, they advised the bishops’ conference that we should listen to the “enlightened” voices of accommodation, such as the recent, hardly surprising yet terribly unfortunate editorial in America (a Catholic Jesuit magazine.) The White House seems to think we bishops simply do not know or understand Catholic teaching and so, taking a cue from its own (Obama’s) definition of religious freedom, now has nominated its own handpicked official Catholic teachers.”

Responses from clergy regarding George Washington

In a 1789 letter from the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Bishops’ Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury (pictured) express their confidence in George Washington:“We are conscious from the signal proofs you have already given that you are a friend of mankind; and under this established idea, place as full a confidence in your wisdom and integrity, for the preservation of those civil and religious liberties…”

In 1790 Bishop John Carroll (the first Catholic bishop and then archbishop in the United States) wrote “An Address from the Roman Catholics of America to George Washington, Esq., President of the United States” by:“… you encourage respect for religion, and inculcate, by words and actions, that principle…”

In his January 1895 encyclical (letter,) Longinqua, Pope Leo XIII showed the great historical admiration the Catholic Church had and will always have for President George Washington:“American colonies, having, with Catholic aid, achieved liberty and independence, coalesced into a constitutional Republic… and at the very time when the popular suffrage placed the great Washington at the helm of the Republic, the first bishop (John Carroll) was set by apostolic authority over the American Church. The well-known friendship and familiar intercourse which subsisted between these two men seems to be an evidence that the United States ought to be conjoined in concord and amity with the Catholic Church… for without morality the State cannot endure-a truth which that illustrious citizen of yours, whom We have just mentioned, with a keenness of insight worthy of his genius and statesmanship perceived and proclaimed. But the best and strongest support of morality is religion.”

From the above letters it is easy to see the comfort level with a president who will be respectful of religious freedom like George Washington versus a president who is harmful toward it like Barack Obama. President Obama has had no kind reply to people of faith about their religious freedom. Only disregard through his actions, like the HHS mandate which was born from the unjust ObamaCare law.

On the other hand, in correspondence dated March 1790, a humble President George Washington replied to Bishop John Carroll with a letter to Roman Catholics stating, among other things;“And I presume that your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic part which you took in the accomplishment of their Revolution, and the establishment of their government; or the important assistance which they received from a nation in which the Roman Catholic faith is professed… it shall be my constant endeavor to justify the favorable sentiments which you are pleased to express of my conduct. And may the members of your society in America, animated alone by the pure spirit of Christianity, and still conducting themselves as the faithful subjects of our free government, enjoy every temporal and spiritual felicity.”

Those are great and humble words from our first leader, who protected our first American freedom, who voluntarily stepped down as President of the United States and could have been king. Now, our forty-fourth leader, who refuses to protect our first freedom, must be made to involuntarily step down by the popular suffrage or we will have a man who will continue to act unabated against religious freedom as if he is our king.

Where do you stand on the following issues that make up the eight points in this article? Where do you think the Church stands on these issues?

Violations of Conscience and Religious Freedom (Ex: Forcing us to pay for contraceptives, abortion, etc.)

Centralized Planning and Socialism

Manipulation of the Economy and the Poor (Ex: Excessive government welfare programs keep the poor dependent on government, out of work and separated from the opportunity for redemption.)

Abortion

Euthanasia

Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Human Cloning

Same-Sex Marriage

Catholicism rejects all of these. The Catholic Church’s opposition to each of these issues is summarized below for absolute clarity. These eight are not listed in order of importance.

Excerpts of all issues are taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church(CCC and section number):

Violations of Conscience and Religious FreedomCCC 1782 Man has the right to act in conscience and in freedom so as personally to make moral decisions. “He must not be forced to act contrary to his conscience. Nor must he be prevented from acting according to his conscience, especially in religious matters.”CCC 1907 First, the common good presupposes respect for the person as such. In the name of the common good, public authorities are bound to respect the fundamental and inalienable rights of the human person. Society should permit each of its members to fulfill his vocation. In particular, the common good resides in the conditions for the exercise of the natural freedoms indispensable for the development of the human vocation, such as “the right to act according to a sound norm of conscience and to safeguard . . . privacy, and rightful freedom also in matters of religion.”CCC 2107 “If because of the circumstances
of a particular people special civil recognition is given to one
religious community in the constitutional organization of a state, the
right of all citizens and religious communities to religious freedom
must be recognized and respected as well.”CCC 2108 The right to religious liberty is neither a moral license to adhere to error, nor a supposed right to error, but rather a natural right of the human person to civil liberty, i.e., immunity, within just limits, from external constraint in religious matters by political authorities. This natural right ought to be acknowledged in the juridical order of society in such a way that it constitutes a civil right.”CCC 2211 The political community has a duty to honor the family, to assist it, and to ensure especially:- the freedom to establish a family, have children, and bring them up in keeping with the family’s own moral and religious convictions;- the protection of the stability of the marriage bond and the institution of the family;- the freedom to profess one’s faith, to hand it on, and raise one’s children in it, with the necessary means and institutions;- the right to private property, to free enterprise, to obtain work and housing, and the right to emigrate…”

Centralized Planning and SocialismCCC 1883Socialization also presents dangers. Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom and initiative. The teaching of the Church has elaborated the principle of subsidiarity, according to which “a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to co-ordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good.”CCC 1885The principle of subsidiarity is opposed to all forms of collectivism…CCC 2425The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modern times with “communism” or “socialism.” …Regulating the economy solely by centralized planning perverts the basis of social bonds…CCC 2499Moral judgment must condemnthe plague of totalitarian states which systematically falsify the truth, exercise political control of opinion through the media, manipulate defendants and witnesses at public trials, and imagine that they secure their tyranny by strangling and repressing everything they consider “thought crimes.”

Manipulation of the Economy and the Poor CCC 2427 Human work proceeds directly from persons created in the image of God and called to prolong the work of creation by subduing the earth, both with and for one another.Hence work is a duty: “If any one will not work, let him not eat.” Work honors the Creator’s gifts and the talents received from him. It can also be redemptive. By enduring the hardship of work in union with Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth and the one crucified on Calvary, man collaborates in a certain fashion with the Son of God in his redemptive work. He shows himself to be a disciple of Christ by carrying the cross, daily, in the work he is called to accomplish. Work can be a means of sanctification and a way of animating earthly realities with the Spirit of Christ. CCC 2444 “The Church’s love for the poor . . . is a part of her constant tradition.” This love is inspired by the Gospel of the Beatitudes, of the poverty of Jesus, and of his concern for the poor. Love for the poor is even one of the motives for the duty of working so as to “be able to give to those in need.” It extends not only to material povertybut also to the many forms of cultural and religious poverty.

AbortionCCC 2270 Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception…CCC 2271Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable…

EuthanasiaCCC 2277Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable. Thus an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator. The error of judgment into which one can fall in good faith does not change the nature of this murderous act, which must always be forbidden and excluded.

Embryonic Stem Cell ResearchCCC 2273The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation…CCC 2274Since it must be treated from conception as a person, the embryo must be defended in its integrity, cared for, and healed, as far as possible, like any other human being.CCC 2275…”It is immoral to produce human embryos intended for exploitation as disposable biological material.” “Certain attempts to influence chromosomic or genetic inheritance are not therapeutic but are aimed at producing human beings selected according to sex or other predetermined qualities. Such manipulations are contrary to the personal dignity of the human being and his integrity and identity” which are unique and unrepeatable.

Human CloningCCC 2273 CCC 2274 CCC 2275

Same-Sex MarriageCCC 2357…Under no circumstances can they (homosexual acts) be approved.CCC 2358They (homosexual persons) must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity…CCC 2359Homosexual persons are called to chastity… they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.CCC 2360Sexuality is ordered to the conjugal love of man and woman. In marriage the physical intimacy of the spouses becomes a sign and pledge of spiritual communion…

Now, a search of the White House website shows an unbelievable, July 31, 2012 article about “cherishing these rights,” just the day before the implementation of the HHS mandate.

See this baffling excerpt from the White House website:

“As Americans, we draw strength from the fact thatfreedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly are among first rights protected in our Constitution’s Bill of Rights. And we are not alone in cherishing these rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes that every person, in every corner of the globe, has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This includes the freedom of every person to change his or her religion or beliefs, and — either alone or in community with others, publicly or privately — to manifest his or her religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”

Posted onJuly 11, 2012|Comments Off on Obama Says It’s Not Fair That Women Pay For Contraception (Instead of Catholic Institutions)

President Obama was interviewed earlier this week on WWL TV in New Orleans. The interviewing journalist asked the President about ObamaCare and it’s mandate (HHS) in the context of religious liberty.

Some of what the President said was …, “country founded on religious liberty BUT,…” and he said “that (a) woman, she suddenly is going to have to bear the burden, the cost of that (contraception) and that’s not fair.”

See President Obama’s responses in minutes 2:04 to 3:12 in the video below: